It has been known that in order to perform the picking of olives and of other similar products having small dimensions picking apparatuses are used, commonly called beaters, suitable to act on the branches of fruit trees, shaking them, in order to provoke the detachment and then the falling down of the fruits.
The beaters generally provide a support rod, preferably of the telescopic type, suitable to be carried by an agricultural ma chine, or manually by an operator at a suitable end handle. At the free end the rod carries a series of shaker elements, suitably shaped for being inserted between the branches, suitable to be actuated in rotation or in a tilting motion by means of drives of the pneumatic or electric type.
In particular, nowadays are known beaters comprising long and narrow shaker elements, for example rod-like or thread-like. Such beater elements can be carried by a suitable support and then actuated in rotation, or articulated to the same support and actuated in oscillation.
A beater of the aforesaid type is illustrated for example in the European patent EP1621063 A2 relating to a device for picking olives and similar agricultural products comprising a couple of opposite oscillating sectors, provided with a plurality of rods fixed thereto in a rake configuration. The oscillating sectors are articulated to a support body of the device and are connected to means for actuating the oscillation motion. The device also comprises kinetic connection means for connecting the actuation means to an electric motor member rigidly linked to a manipulation and support rod.
Patent application EP1795064 A1 discloses an apparatus for harvesting olives comprising a couple of combs designed to engage with the fruits to be harvested, a support rod for the combs which extends from one end of a central structure, a grip portion made on the aforesaid central structure, a motor member suitable to move the combs and means for transmitting motion form the motor member to the combs.
The known beaters have made the olive picking operations quicker and easier, nevertheless they still present non negligible drawbacks.
First of all such apparatuses have considerable bulk dimensions and weight, sometimes not perfectly equilibrated. For this reason the insertion of the shaker members between the branches of the trees can result problematic and laborious for the operator.
Moreover such apparatuses do not al low to act in a uniform and efficient way on the foliage of the trees. As a consequence the risk of damaging the plants increases because of the use of such apparatuses. In fact a use which is not well controlled by the operator can lead to scratch or even to shear the branches of the trees, at the germinable part, compromising in such a way the production of fruits for the folio wing year. Such a risk turns out to be worse by the arising of undesired vibrations due to the actuation of the beating elements, if these latter are not perfectly equilibrated.